Grant brings archive project to El Monte, South El Monte

The South El Monte Arts Posse (SEMAP), an arts collaborative, has begun a new archive project to tell the story of El Monte and South El Monte — people and places, past and present.

“We got this grant and we’re taking it as far as we can,” said SEMAP cofounder Caribbean Fragoza. “We’re very lucky to receive this grant, which usually focuses on projects (only in Los Angeles).”

SEMAP was awarded a Cultural Exchange International grant from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs for “East of East: Mapping Community Narratives in South El Monte and El Monte,” a collaborative and interdisciplinary archive project in conjunction with La Casa de El Hijo del Ahuizote from Mexico City.

“(El Monte and South El Monte) are an important history to Los Angeles and greater California,” said Romeo Guzmán, SEMAP cofounder.

Now through Feb. 8, SEMAP and La Casa academics, artists, journalists and trained community members will conduct oral histories, creative writing and map-making exercises, as well as digitalizing photos.

“We’re building a new archive together (with La Casa),” said Guzmán. “We’re doing creative writing projects with the community, and in the process getting a better sense of (El Monte and South El Monte).”

The community-generated material will form the basis of a new, digital archive, which for now, will be housed in Mexico City at La Casa del Hijo del Ahuizote and on KCET’s website.

“La Casa created one of the first digital archives. All of a sudden, a document that would only be seen by professionals will now be accessible to everyone (through a digital archive),” Guzmán said. “We think an archive has to be accessible to everyone. We’re also coming with a different set of skills and expertise.”

La Casa de El Hijo del Ahuizote is a nonprofit archive and cultural center based at the renovated building that once housed the press of brothers Ricardo and Enrique Flores Magon, editors of opposition newspapers during the regime of General Porfirio Díaz. The brothers have connections to Los Angeles and El Monte, where they were also active.

Advertisement

“One of the things we’re going to share with (La Casa as part of the project) is the way we practice community arts; help them with their relationship with their community,” said Fragoza. “And we want to learn about their archive process.”

The archive will be multimedia and have several themes.

Guzmán is conducting oral interviews with residents for audio recordings, as well as colleague and friend Froylan Enciso with Spanish speakers.

“I’m doing about one- to two-hour conversations on someone’s life,” said Guzmán. “Anyone who wants to share their story, can share.”

“I want these interviews to be a historical, community and family record of the living Hispanic heritage that is forming the Los Angeles metropolitan area,” added Enciso. “This is why I proposed to focus my contribution to the linguistically hidden elements of this heritage.”

Fragoza will be focusing on the creative writing side. She has recruited a group of women who take Zumba exercise classes together.

“I wanted to access another part of the community to get their stories that wouldn’t otherwise be told,” she said. “They’re such a tight-knit community; they support each other. We would be talking about their home life, etc.”

Fragoza will be doing writing exercises with the group, as well as some drawing exercises, “drawing out their daily life, where they go, where they shop, the map can be an artful object.”

As part of the project, SEMAP will also host several community events. Most recently they held an author reading and workshop Jan. 11 at the El Monte Library with El Monte native and novelist Michael Jaime-Becerra.

“It’s another way for people to get involved,” said Fragoza. “We met Jaime-Becerra years ago. He’s really enthusiastic about (the project), and working with the community.”

Jaime-Becerra also helped with some of the first material for the project — articles that provide insight into community history.

Articles such as “Ricardo Flores Magon and the Anarchist Movement in El Monte, California,” “The City of Achievement”: the Making of South El Monte, 1955-1976” and Jaime-Becerra’s “1181 Durfee Avenue: 1983 to 1986,” about Golf Land, are online

“We’ll look into producing a book (in the future). It’ll be another cultural production,” said Guzmán.

One of the project’s themes focus on the backyard punk scene in the area.

“There’s really rich narratives in those stories,” Guzmán said.

Fragoza is excited to work with women and youth.

“Working with alternative education kids — they may not have another opportunity to share their stories,” she said.

SEMAP is working with several school district officials to include students of all levels — elementary, junior high and high school — and their parents for the project.

“At South El Monte High, we’re training about 40 students to do oral histories on their parents, relatives,” said Guzmán. “We follow the individual, those who settled here.”

For Guzmán and Fragoza, the project is personal too. Both either grew up in or have family from either El Monte or South El Monte.

“We’re always very aware of people who are from here, and were trying to connect with these people,” said Guzmán.

“These type of projects are important because they help us to know who we are,” said Enciso. “Knowing and telling others who we are is a hard and constant task in our modern life.”

“We know it’s only going to be a sliver of El Monte (and South El Monte)’, said Fragoza. “Hopefully it’ll bring interest from others and this will be just the beginning (of an archive).”